"Sure, I don't care," Seth said casually, his shattering straight through the ice that bound him. Chu Yun blinked in surprise, expecting resistance, before she forced herself upon Seth, but instead, he simply walked past her as if nothing had happened.
She stood frozen for a moment, her earlier confidence fading into quiet disbelief. What was a dragon, truly? A dragon was a creature of pride and dominance, an existence that valued strength above all else. For female dragons, that pride ran even deeper. Once they chose a mate, they would remain bound to that person for life. Many were so possessive that if their chosen mate ever strayed, they would sooner kill them than tolerate betrayal.
Because of this, female dragons often sought weaker males—those without power, lineage, or reputation—just to avoid conflicts with stronger dragons. And those who failed to find a suitable partner? They would simply take what they wanted. Some forced themselves upon the strongest dragon they could find, either consuming him afterward or discarding him entirely after they got what they wanted.
She wanted Seth to be her mate—there was no one else she saw as worthy. No one matched his strength, his presence, or the quiet authority he carried without effort. But what bothered her most was how little he seemed to care. His calm indifference toward her stung more than any rejection could.
Even now, after shattering through her ice effortlessly through her ice, he didn't so much as glance her way. The display didn't impress her; after all, that wasn't her new ice, the one that carried her true power. What unsettled her was how little emotion he showed—how detached he always seemed from everyone around him.
"Do you want to stay alone all your life?" she finally asked, her voice softer but laced with frustration.
Seth, as usual, gave no visible reaction. He kept to himself, spending most of his days training in silence and pushing his body past its limits. He rarely interacted with anyone outside of necessity. Only a few—Chu Yun herself, Shadow, and a handful of other SS-tier talents—were allowed to meet him freely, and even then, he often grew visibly irritated by their presence.
"What's so bad about that?" Seth said lightly.
"Once you get used to being lonely, it's not so scary anymore. You start to realize how peaceful it is—how freeing it feels to be alone and not have to deal with anyone else." His tone was calm, almost detached,
"That's… sad," Chu Yun said softly.
It was the first time she had ever seen this side of him. For once, he wasn't the untouchable figure who seemed above everything and everyone. His words revealed a truth she hadn't expected—that once, he had feared loneliness, but life had forced him into it until solitude became his only comfort.
"Maybe, maybe not," Seth replied, his tone calm and detached, as if her words carried no weight at all.
Chu Yun's eyes narrowed as she glanced at his status window. With their power gap shrinking, she could now read his name clearly—but his talent still remained hidden, shrouded as if the system itself refused to reveal it. That only made her curiosity grow stronger.
"Fine then," she said with a sly smirk, crossing her arms. "Now we're married."
Seth frowned, his gaze flicking toward her, but she only smiled wider at his reaction. Without waiting for him to respond, she turned on her heel and began to walk away, clearly pleased with herself.
"Tonight, we shall seal this deal," she said with a confident smile.
There were two things Chu Yun was certain about when it came to Seth. First, he was a man of his word—once he agreed to something, he wouldn't go back on it. If he had accepted her earlier claim, that would have made them husband and wife.
Second, Seth valued comfort. He preferred focusing on his own training rather than involving himself in unnecessary work. Even if she irritated him, he wouldn't harm her, not when she handled the burdens of leadership that allowed him to live so freely.
"That new skill of yours," Seth said calmly, his tone light as his gaze met hers, "use it to create some extremely dense, heavy ice."
Chu Yun froze mid-step, shocked that he could somehow see the details of her abilities. For a brief moment, she studied him, then raised her hand silently. A massive block of ice materialized above the ground, crashing down with such force that the earth trembled and a deep crater formed where it landed… And just like that, his next round of training began.
The ice block she'd created was heavy—easily the heaviest thing Seth had ever had the pleasure of working out with. The special ice responded to his mana input, growing progressively heavier as he channeled more energy into its crystalline structure. This allowed Seth to calibrate its weight precisely, pushing it to truly punishing levels that would have crushed a normal person flat.
But he was a man of his word. When Chu Yin appeared at his door that evening, he had no choice but to join her in bed.
Not that Seth minded in the slightest.
This experience was hundreds of times better than anything he'd ever watched on a screen or when he experienced sex in the past. The difference between fantasy and reality was staggering, and he found himself completely absorbed in every moment.
They went at it all night long, hours of pure pleasure where the two ascended to heaven and plummeted back down repeatedly, their bodies intertwined as they explored each other with desperate intensity. They only stopped when exhaustion finally overwhelmed them both, leaving them gasping and spent.
"So, husband..." Chu Yin lay draped across Seth's chest, her body still pressed against his as she propped her head up with one palm. A satisfied smirk played across her lips as she gazed down at him, fully aware that his eyes kept drifting downward to her breasts, which hovered tantalizingly close to his face.
"Yeah, I enjoyed it," Seth admitted with a slight roll of his eyes. He wasn't going to deny the obvious truth that hung between them. Honestly, he'd never realized sex could feel this incredible, this all-consuming. His previous life as a young master had been filled with countless meaningless encounters, an endless parade of forgettable nights spent chasing shallow pleasure. But nothing—absolutely nothing—had ever come remotely close to what he'd just experienced with her.
"Good. I'm pleased I can make my husband happy." Her grin widened as she traced idle patterns on his chest. "But if you want another taste of me, I'm afraid I have certain demands that need to be met first."
She was already playing her hand, attempting to leverage their physical connection to control him. The manipulation was transparent, and Seth could see exactly what game she was playing. The question was whether he'd let himself fall into her trap or not.
"No." Seth didn't even hesitate; the response was automatic.
"At least hear what I have to say before you dismiss me." Displeasure colored her tone as she shifted her weight slightly. "All I want from you is simple—treat me like your actual wife instead of some casual fling, and stop being such a recluse all the time. Is that really so unreasonable?"
The look of pure disgust that crossed Seth's face made her pause mid-breath. She was absolutely certain she'd seen that exact expression somewhere before, probably while watching One Piece during one of her binge sessions.
"I'm serious about this. I just made you my mate, and we dragons—" She stopped abruptly, suddenly hyper-aware of how she'd just referred to her own race. The realization hit her like a splash of cold water. She wasn't thinking of herself as human anymore.
The transformation had shifted something fundamental in her identity. After a brief moment of internal consideration, she shrugged and pressed forward, accepting this new truth about herself.
"We dragons... no, we female dragons specifically only choose one worthy mate for our entire lives. It's not like humans who can love multiple partners. I chose you, Seth. What exactly do you have to fear from me? That I'll somehow betray you after everything?" Her voice softened, becoming almost vulnerable.
"We can purchase a soul bond from the store if that would ease your paranoid mind. I love you. I know you love me too, even if you're too stubborn to admit it. You just keep ignoring those feelings, pushing them down like they don't exist." Her words hung in the air between them. Seth paused, his automatic rejection dying on his lips as he actually considered what she was saying for the first time.
"Yeah, you're a dragon now, so I guess we're good." He shrugged as if this were the most casual observation in the world. As for him loving her? Seth had no idea where she got that from… but since she wasn't human.
Chu Yin found herself completely speechless, her mouth opening and closing as she struggled to process his abrupt acceptance. All her careful arguments, all her emotional vulnerability, and he'd just... accepted it? Just like that? Because she wasn't human?